Biogas Digester and Justa Stove Workshop - Nicaragua
The first few minutes of training workshops are always tentative, as people drift in late, as new ideas are introduced in theory before being put into practice, as friends shift from talking about the weather and the latest election to focusing on the reason that they have all gathered. The first ten minutes of this workshop in Jalapa Nicaragua, were no different. When Juan Carlos Sandres, SHI's extensionist from SHI's Honduras program, began speaking to a group of Nicaraguans seated in plastic chairs on a dirt porch, at first everyone shuffled around and whispered to each other as they ended other conversations. Juan Carlos held up a basic gas stove burner and began to explain how a biodigester could make use of nothing more than cow and pig manure to fuel this burner. No need for wood, no production of smoke - all that would be required is a trench, a big plastic bag of the right kind of plastic, a small amount of PVC tubing and a month for the manure and water to ferment in the bag, producing methane gas to be used for cooking. At first, people simply listened, cocking their heads to one side and squinting at the diagrams Juan Carlos drew. Although they had come to the workshop expecting to learn about this new technology from SHI, it didn't appear to be very believable to them at first.
After a while, one woman raised her hand for a question: "Can we use our own waste for this biodigester?"
"Of course," Juan Carlos said, "but all of you don't stink as much as the cows and pigs." People giggled slightly. "The pigs and cows produce more methane than people, and that's what you need. You can also use coffee grounds, banana peels, animal guts as long as there are no bones that will puncture the bag - anything that smells bad, except for your socks."
The first questions broke the ice, and now everyone jumped in with questions focused on how the biodigester actually worked: could it blow up if it filled with too much gas? How many hours of burn time did it provide? How much flame and heat would the burner actually provide?
The workshop fairly quickly went from the theoretical to practical and soon Juan Carlos led everyone to the nearby school to unroll the plastic bags and inspect it for holes. For the rest of the day, theory gave way to practice as the group dug a trench, began hauling water, mixing manure into the bag and connected tubes to the plastic - all the effort necessary to make a biodigester a reality.
"The only disappointing thing," Juan Carlos said, "is that it takes about a month of charging up the biodigester before it will work. The methane doesn't fill the bag up and make it functional right away, so all this work and then you all will have to wait to see it happen, to see manure become fire. But trust me, it will happen."
By that point, at the end of a long day, the people from Jalapa not only trusted Juan Carlos but treated him like one of their own. The biodigester opened a door for the ideas that SHI promotes as part of its agricultural work, and Juan Carlos was able to walk through that door a little ways. This is a pattern that SHI uses in so many of the communities where it begins work: start with something small, a garden, a seed saving program, a biodigester, and then get to know people and let them get to know you. It is the basis of trust. Leading workshops like this, SHI extensionists act as teachers who have something to share but also are more than willing to learn from their students. That is a process that works on the local level of people getting to know each other, rather than that of aid workers giving a gift, and it is a part of what makes the SHI work methodology an effective way to promote sustainable agriculture and reforestation.
The workshops in Jalapa were sponsored by SHI and Friendship City Projects (FCP) based out of Boulder, Colorado, which has had a sister city relationship with Jalapa since the early 1980's. The direct idea was to offer some new ideas for burning less wood and producing less smoke in local homes, where children and women are the most common victims of a day's cooking that can be the equivalent of smoking two or three packs of cigarettes a day. The workshops also served to introduce SHI to the communities, with the hope that someday the organization might work here, and for Jalapa community organizations to offer something of practical daily use to people. One such organization, Pueblos Unidos, worked especially hard to plan these workshops and attract attendees. The workshops were to be focused on the building of biodigesters and Justa stoves, a type of stove that uses very little wood and yet produces high heat as well as no smoke. There were also discussion groups on SHI's agricultural techniques and small loan programs, offered by Juan Carlos and SHI's Regional Coordinator, Mercedes Alvarez.
The Justa stove workshops were offered by Sebastian Africano of a Honduras-based organization AHDESA, which works together with the U.S.-based organization Trees, Water and People. Sebastian explained to the group that the Justa stove design grew out of the older Lorena stove design, but uses the same principle: a chamber that both burns wood more efficiently and a chimney that pipes the smoke out. The opening minutes of Sebastian's two-day workshop were similar to what happened with Juan Carlos as the history of Justas and the theory behind them were explained to a group of Jalapa folks sitting on a porch in the community of Nueva Esparanza. Sebastian told the group, "The name comes from a woman named Doña Justa, who had watched a group of gringo stove technicians building a Lorena stove and laughingly told them she could do better. They told her to prove it, which she promptly did, and the only thing left to do was name the stove design after her."
Just as with the theory part of the biodigester workshop, Sebastian used the classroom part of the Justa stoves workshop to get to know people and for them to get to know him. Following introductions, the workshop flowed into the hands-on practice. Over the course of the next two days, five stoves were built in five different communities. Just as important for sustainability, five people in particular were trained in how to build them. After the first two stoves, Sebastian sent teams off to do the work themselves, saying "If I hover over them, they might think they can't do it, when I know they can. I just need to show up and check on the final stages." Indeed, all five stoves came out perfect, and the five brick masons trained in how to build them have now formed a cooperative to continue building these fuel-efficient stoves throughout the Jalapa Valley.
These workshops were only a first step in the kinds of work that SHI does, and these types of projects only a part of the mission of the organization. Nevertheless, they are a way to promote what the organization advocates on a theory level in the practical terms of people's lives: hope is planted when people learn of what SHI does and make it a part of what they want to do, communities are nourished by that hope, and forests and land are restored by the physical manifestations of such work. Or to put it in the words of Enrique Peralta, one of the community participants: "Thank you for not forgetting us, thank you for not telling us we can't learn this, thank you for teaching us how to do this."
Thanks also to the workshop coordinators Sebastian Africano, Mercedes Alvarez, Tamara Czyzyk and Juan Carlos
-SHI Program Director Greg Bowles
Learn more: Click here to see more photos from the workshop in Jalapa.
Love is in the Air!
We are proud to report that 48 people gave a Gift of Hope in honor of a loved one this Valentine's Day. Thanks to this support, families working with SHI in Central America will have the training and support they need to transform 56 acres of desolate land into multi-story forest gardens! These forests protect soils, mitigate global warming, and provide a home for wildlife. One of the crops that thrives in multi-story forests is cacao (the tree that gives us chocolate). Cacao is a valuable cash crop that enables the families to increase their incomes while protecting the environment.
Our team in Honduras estimates that for every acre converted to sustainable uses, another five acres of forest are saved from slash-and-burn destruction. That means that approximately 280 acres of tropical forest have been saved this Valentine's Day! Thank you for sharing your love for the planet with the people you love!
If you missed out on the Valentine's Day offer of chocolate, not to worry, we will continue to give Chocolate Gifts of Hope while supplies last. You can show your friends and family how much you really care by giving them a Chocolate Gift of Hope in honor of any occasion! Your donation will go to support families working to bring an end to poverty and deforestation in their community and your loved one will receive a beautiful card and chocolate gift.
Panama Truck Fund Update
Thanks to an outpouring of support, $15,000 has be raised to purchase a truck for the SHI Panama Program! The Panama staff is overwhelmed with gratitude and want the SHI family to know how appreciated their support is. The truck will be purchased in the coming weeks. Please stay posted for photos and testimonies from the 137 families in 17 communities working with the SHI Panama program.
Thank you!
Business Supporters Making the World Cooler
Businesses are taking responsibility for their environmental impact by supporting SHI's reforestation projects in Central America.
To date, SHI families are growing trees and food sustainably on 5,669 acres. That means that families working with SHI have saved approximately 28,345 acres of forest! That's big news at a time when our tropical forest are more important than ever in combating global climate change and providing homes for threatened species of plants and animals.
Click here to see images from SHI participants working to plant trees in their communities.
Click here to learn about upcoming Smaller World Service Trips
Sustainable Harvest International • 779 North Bend Rd. Surry, ME 04684 • 207.669.8254 (phone) • 866.683.6594 (toll free) • 207.669.8255 (fax) • shi@sustainableharvest.org • www.sustainableharvest.org